This invention relates to a recording medium. More particularly, it relates to a recording medium which exploits the vaporization and removal, the deformation or the like of a recording thin film formed on a substrate as based on heat produced directly by projecting a recording beam such as laser beam onto the film or indirectly through auxiliary means.
As Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 55-126480, Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Registration Application No. 56-39270 and Japanese Utility Model Registration Application No. 55-1218, some of the inventors have previously proposed a recording medium wherein at least one layer of an inorganic material is directly overlaid with an organic material layer of low melting point or softening point as a recording film and wherein the inorganic material layer absorbs a recording beam, and heat produced at this time is used for deforming the organic material layer so as to perform recording. However, the recording film of such structure, especially one of high sensitivity has been found to have the disadvantage of being low in the degree of heat tolerance. That is, defects appear in the organic material layer due to a slight temperature change.